City of Kawartha Lakes Septic System Replacement: Permits, Costs and What to Know

Kawartha Lakes: One Municipality, One Permit Office, A Lot of Lakes

The City of Kawartha Lakes is a single-tier municipality covering a large swath of cottage country between the Oak Ridges Moraine and the southern edge of the Canadian Shield. One building and septic division handles Part 8 permits for the entire city — from Lindsay in the south to Kinmount in the north. Source Water Protection adds a separate layer near municipal wellheads and surface water intakes. Here is what property owners need to know.

Unlike Haliburton County or Muskoka District, where septic authority is divided among multiple municipalities, the City of Kawartha Lakes has a single integrated Building and Septic Division that administers Part 8 across the entire city boundary. This simplifies the question of who to call. It also means one office is handling a very large and geographically diverse territory — from the clay and loam soils of the southern portions near Lindsay to the granite Shield terrain north of Kinmount and Norland.

The Permit Authority: City of Kawartha Lakes Building and Septic Division

All sewage system permits in the City of Kawartha Lakes are issued by the Building and Septic Division. This includes new installations, replacements, additions, repairs, and decommissioning certificates. The division maintains septic system records going back to 1974.

Contact information:

• Phone: 705-324-9411 — North Area Inspector ext. 2126 / South Area Inspector ext. 1312
• Email: septicpermits@kawarthalakes.ca
• Main office: Development Services Hub, 180 Kent Street West, Lindsay
• Northern service centre: Coboconk Municipal Service Centre, 9 Grandy Road, Coboconk
• Inspector phone hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30am to 10:30am
• Part 8 Supervisor: Anne Elmhirst C.P.H.I. (C) — ext. 1882

The City moved to electronic submissions in 2025. Applications can be submitted online through the city’s e-permitting system. Paper submissions are accepted but incur a $15 record scanning fee. Incomplete applications are not prioritized — ensure the package is complete before submitting.

City Geography: What Part of Kawartha Lakes Are You In?

The City of Kawartha Lakes covers a large and varied territory. The soil and site conditions you will encounter depend significantly on where your property is located within the municipality:

Southern and Central Kawartha Lakes (Lindsay, Fenelon Falls, Bobcaygeon area)

The southern portion of the municipality sits on the transition zone between the Oak Ridges Moraine to the south and the Shield-influenced terrain to the north. Soils in this area are more varied — some areas have reasonable loam and sandy loam soils that support conventional systems, while other areas have heavier clay-based soils with seasonal high water tables. Lindsay has municipal sewer and water serving much of the urban area. Fenelon Falls and Bobcaygeon have municipal services in their village cores; surrounding rural and waterfront properties are on private systems.

Northern Kawartha Lakes (Kinmount, Norland, Coboconk, Kirkfield area)

As you move north toward Kinmount and Norland, the terrain becomes noticeably more Shield-like. Granite bedrock becomes more prevalent, soil depth decreases, and the site conditions begin to resemble what is described in our Haliburton County guide — raised systems in certified fill, Class 4 ATUs on constrained lots, and bedrock as the primary design constraint. The Coboconk service centre serves properties in this northern area.

Trent-Severn Waterway Corridor

A significant portion of the City of Kawartha Lakes lies along the Trent-Severn Waterway — one of Canada’s most traveled recreational waterways, connecting Lake Ontario to Georgian Bay through a series of lakes and locks. Properties along the Trent-Severn corridor are, by definition, waterfront properties with the associated 30-metre setback requirements, Conservation Authority involvement, and the environmental sensitivity that comes with a federally regulated waterway.

Source Water Protection: The Additional Compliance Layer

The City of Kawartha Lakes has an active Source Water Protection program, operating under two Source Protection Plans: the Trent Conservation Coalition Source Water Protection Plan and the South Georgian Bay Lake Simcoe Source Protection Plan. Between them, these plans govern protection around 15 municipal wellhead areas and 6 surface water intakes within the City.

The Clean Water Act identified sewage systems as one of 21 potential significant threats to drinking water sources. As a result, the City operates a Mandatory Sewage System Maintenance Inspection Program for existing and future sewage systems located in vulnerable areas — specifically Well Head Protection Areas (WHPAs) and Intake Protection Zones (IPZs) identified in the Source Protection Plans.

If your property is in a Source Protection zone, construction projects may require a Source Protection Notice from the City’s Risk Management Official before work can begin. This is a separate step from the septic permit itself. The Kawartha Conservation Authority handles Source Protection applications. Their contact information is available at kawarthaconservation.com, and the Risk Management Official can be reached at 705-328-2271.

Kawartha Conservation Authority: When You Need Their Permit

The Kawartha Conservation Authority (Kawartha Conservation) has jurisdiction over regulated areas within the City of Kawartha Lakes under Ontario Regulation 41/24. Development near lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and floodplains within their watershed requires a Kawartha Conservation permit in addition to the City’s septic permit.

For a septic system replacement on a waterfront or near-water property, confirm with Kawartha Conservation whether your property is in the regulated area before submitting your septic permit application. Their Planning and Regulations department can advise on permit requirements. Contact through kawarthaconservation.com or by phone at 705-328-2271.

As with all Conservation Authority applications in Ontario, start the Kawartha Conservation application at the same time as the City building and septic application — not afterward. CA review timelines add weeks to months to a project when treated as a sequential step rather than a parallel one.

Requesting Existing Permit Records

The City of Kawartha Lakes maintains septic system records going back to 1974. To request permit records for your property, contact the Building and Septic Division at septicpermits@kawarthalakes.ca or 705-324-9411. You will need the property address and ideally the assessment roll number. Records from before 1974 may not exist; systems installed before then were often not formally permitted under a provincial framework comparable to what exists today.

If you are buying a property in the City of Kawartha Lakes, requesting the septic records before closing is standard due diligence. A system with no permit record is a different proposition than one with a complete file. Our full guide on buying a home with a septic system in Ontario covers what to request and how to interpret what you receive.

What Septic Replacement Costs in Kawartha Lakes

Scenario	Typical Cost Range	Where It Applies
Conventional in-ground system — good loam or sandy soil	$14,000 – $26,000	Southern and central areas with reasonable soil profiles
Raised bed on clay or high water table site	$20,000 – $40,000	Lower-lying areas throughout the municipality
Class 4 ATU — waterfront or constrained lot	$28,000 – $52,000	Trent-Severn corridor, lake properties throughout
Bedrock raised system — northern Shield terrain	$25,000 – $55,000+	Kinmount, Norland, northern Kawartha Lakes
Source Water Protection notice (if required)	Additional admin/review fee	WHPA and IPZ zones — confirm with Kawartha Conservation

The cost range is wide because the municipality itself spans such varied geology. A straightforward conventional system in the southern clay-loam area is a significantly different project from a bedrock raised ATU on a northern waterfront lot. Our general Ontario septic replacement cost guide provides the full system-type breakdown.

The Trent-Severn Corridor: Special Considerations

Properties along the Trent-Severn Waterway deserve specific mention because the waterway is federally managed by Parks Canada, and development near it involves federal jurisdiction in addition to municipal and provincial requirements. For a septic system replacement on a property directly adjacent to the Trent-Severn, confirm whether Parks Canada has any notification or approval requirements for work near the waterway in addition to the City septic permit and Kawartha Conservation permit.

In practice, most residential septic replacements set back from the water at compliant distances do not require Parks Canada involvement. But on very narrow lots where the system must be placed close to the Trent-Severn water’s edge, or where excavation would disturb shoreline vegetation, confirming the regulatory picture before you start is the right approach.

The City of Kawartha Lakes is a large and varied municipality with a genuinely useful and accessible Building and Septic Division. The permit process is well-documented, records go back to 1974, and the inspectors are reachable by phone every morning. The complexity that does exist — Source Water Protection requirements, Kawartha Conservation permits, and the geology shift between the southern clay areas and the northern Shield — is manageable with good pre-application preparation. Call the Division early, confirm the approval landscape for your property, and the rest of the process follows a clear path.